COMING HOME FOR

CHRISTMAS

-GUYANA-

TWENTY EIGHT POEMS By Dmitri Allicock

Joyful Christmas Day is almost here

Christ’s birth rejoiced with feelings so dear

Melodious carols praises the season with delight

Stardust illuminates with colorful flickering lights

Behold all things are softer and beautiful

Pepper pot, garlic pork, black cake so tasteful

Rekindled closeness of family and nostalgic festivity

Glorified savior of mankind and Sacred Nativity

Beaming children, Father Christmas of happiest times

Early church services and distant bells chime

Childhood innocence with spirit of rebirth

Guyana’s best and hopes for peace on this earth

Homes replenished, Christmas tree decorated so well

Ham and eggs, fresh bread with ecstatic spell

Whistle and drums of dancing Masquerade strumming

Mother Sally and Wild Cow are coming

Packed Airplanes, headed home with memories so fine

Hoping to enjoy preciousness and perhaps some wine

Sorrel or ginger beer, cook-up rice and the best dishes

A jolly season to celebrate with cheers and wishes

-

NO CHICKEN FOR CHRISTMAS

Chicken coop but we like the air

A tree and we ought to be there

A chicken cage, but we will fly

Up a tree where it is not so high

Feathers of color floating down

And slowly drifting to the ground

DECEMBER SONG

Merry finches sing and waters run

Passage of time, year almost done

Curtain closes and memories dwell

Yesterday shadows, we bid farewell

Bless each other with a fresh start

Time traveler’s journey we’ll chart

Beyond the cloudy horizon, up high

A New Year where life’s journey lie

We laughed, wept and even feared

And we’ll embrace the coming Year

With smiles and wishes at midnight,

Time for renewal in the dazzling light

MY CHRISTMAS VEIL

Oh holy hope and high humility

Let your vision be that of tranquility

Lift that dark veil and see the colors of light

The glimmering glory of a world fair and so bright

MY PRECIOUS PLANTAIN TREE

My plantain sucker takes root

So nice to see the young shoots

Soon it will grow tall and bear

Lovely green plantains to share

I enjoy the blessing of this land

A plantain tree and by my hand

BRIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE

The sun will shine after the rain

Without hurt there will be no gain

Life does gives us a second chance

I also believe in life’s long romance

I still think that dreams come thru

And there is hope for me and you

There are happy tears and also sad

Good things can also come from bad

I think that today will be a good day

And that every day will turn out okay

Within all of us there is amazing love

And for some, they may need a shove

I think that life is indeed joyous ride

And to always look to the brighter side.

---

MORNING FRESH

She is born free in her wildness like a drop of water. She

knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or

customs. Her life flows clean with passion like the

Guyanese fresh water.

CARVING A WALKING STICK

A stick but more than a crutch

Guyanese stick carved of much

A wooden emblem of command

Framed for the bushman’s hand

A staff for those reptiles that bite

A probe to make your path right

A rod of proper kept by your side

A safety wand made for your guide

PATIENT IS A HERON

Patient is the banks he wander

Ripples in the shallows yonder

Movements in a morass ground

Chirps of a cricket is the sound

Silence is his ways of speaking

The hush of the utmost seeking

He sees the shimmer of a lunch

And he lounges in for his munch

1973 TO REMEMBER

Looking at this family picture of 1973

I think of the loss of my Dad and Andrei

The memories and the tears still flow

And to lose you, no one will ever know

Your place that nothing could ever fill

In death, I will love you forever still

My dear family that will never be the same

But I know that one day we will meet again

[Front row- L to R- Yuri, Jennifer and Kenrick]

[Back row- L to R- Myself, Dad, Mom and Andrei]

[Joycelyn and Brenda are not in the picture]

A LEAP OF FAITH

Tale of a monkey that flies

With you that I will share

Here before your very eyes

So precious, yet not so rare

A squirrel with her young

Sailing in the air with flare

Leaping without falling down

AND I LOVE HER

Your eyes sparkle in the bright sky

The wings of our love soaring high

Soft & sweet; handsome & mellow

A prince with that crown of yellow

My love for you is pure and so true

And I will always be together with you

THE RINGED KINGFISHER (Megaceryle torquata)

Take a chance and soar to the highest summit

Ride those winds high and ignore the plummet

Look at the egrets, herons, kingfisher & spoonbill

Enjoy the long legged Ibis and flamingo thrill

Lift yourself up and watch the life down below

Ride Guyana’s winds where peace and love glows

PARADISE PERCH

Bright and beautiful to see

A parakeet in a coconut tree

Sitting high on paradise perch

A young nut perhaps his search

TINY HEARTS OF LOVE- Guyana

Tiny drops of water

Little grains of sand

Make the mighty ocean

And the beauteous land.

And the little moments

Humble though they be

Make the mighty ages

Of eternity

And little dear children

Tiny hearts of such love

Make our earth an Eden

Like the heaven above

WARM AND RIGHT

May your thoughts of the road that you stroll,

Be blessed with flowers and birds that you know

May the white clouds replace the dark and gray

And blooms the colors of Guyana along the way

May each day be happier and teach you to forgive

And may you strive always to love, to care & to live

May the path that you choose be warm and right

Blessed with the sounds of peace in the shining light

BALLAD OF GUYANA’S WOOD ANTS

My home was on your fence

Sorry, that was the past tense

Now, friends with your mouse

I have moved inside your house

I’ll dance in the dark and crawl

And is plotting within your walls

To this tasty buffet, I will invite

A zillion friends with an appetite

I am hungry for a taste of wood

The soft one is so sweet and good

Your moldings & ceiling I will eat

A nice appetizer, and what a treat

Then the walls, sills, and the beams

Delicious main course is my scheme

Even a house of greenheart and brick

I’ve my knife, fork and my toothpicks

MARCH OF THE ACOUSHI

Like discipline troops they march for the cause

Those acoushi ants with the leaves in their jaws

Marching with that solemn pace and single file

Back to their giant nest, though it may be miles

Devastating attack and leaving naked a fruit tree

In the darkness of Guyana’s night so deliberately

Stripping an entire tree into pieces, slice by slice

Destroying crops and livelihoods, a terrible price

Carrying their load forward and coming for more

Dutiful in their marching steps on the forest floor

Unwavering in collecting leaves for the fungi food

To then grow and feed their acoushi larvae brood

THE WASHBOARD SCRUB

Remembering the ole washboard scrub

A brush, some soapy water and that rub

A tub and the washing without a frown

Back in the day when that not much fun

Echoes of scrubbing clothes up & down

Fresh laundry strung in the Guyana’s sun

A FENCE FOR CHICKENS

I love to hear the fowlcock in the morn

His beautiful song of bringing in the dawn

Standing on a fence with his morning call

His way of saying a lush morning to all

The freshness of a green Guyana, aglow

A fence for the chickens and for his crow

AWAKE- Annai, Guyana

She too that loveth awaketh and hopes for thee

Her eyes already have sped the shades that flee

Already she watch the path thy feet shall take

Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!

WHITE PICKET FENCE

Yesteryear was so precious and new

Filled with promise and laughter too

Crotons in the yard shining so bright

A home of love and of such delight

Mangoes in the tree for birds to sing

A bottom house for children to cling

A white picket fence house, so sweet

Breeze blowing in Georgetown’s heat

Butterflies landing on a child’s finger

But now only the dear memories lingers

RAYS OF HOME

The warmth of home wherever you go

A smile of the heart and great to know

So when the winter freeze finds its way

Remember these rays to brighten your day

A CHRISTMAS GIFT

Oh precious is my gift of green color

I can listen and play with you for hours

You make me smile; fill my life to the top

With such sweet happiness that will never stop

I thank you my feathered friend of such pleasure

My Christmas gift, my sincere love and my treasure

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

A message of peace in a bottle of glass

Thru the perils of the waves it must pass

A thousand miles it will travel in my plea

I pray that it too shall not be lost to the sea

ALMOST THE 25TH

OF DECEMBER

I heard a bird sing

It is almost the 25th of December

Such a magical thing

And so sweet to remember.

We are nearer to Spring

Than we were in September

I heard a bird sing

It is the 25th of December!

A PRECIOUS DAY

May white clouds replace your gray

with blessing of happiness each day

May you find comfort and no pain

as you start your morning again

May you ride the ups & downs of life’s tide

And enjoy this precious day in your stride

CELESTIAL LIGHT

The chirps of the songbirds brighten

The horizon sun rises and it lightens

Light that all living things have seen

Sunlight of life in our world of green

Immortal light of his birth and infinity

Our celestial twinkling gift of divinity

---

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A JOYOUS

2016!